Easy Yogurt Muffins

By Clare de Boer

Updated August 19, 2026

  • Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.
Media 1 of 2
Ready In
40 min plus cooling time
Rating
4(16)
Comments
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These muffins remove the pesky aspects of baking with kids without losing any of the joy. The batter is made entirely in a food processor, so you don’t have to worry about the delayed gratification of tempering butter or the potential burns that come with using the melted kind. There are plenty of opportunities to press buttons! The food processor also lets you skip processed sugar. This recipe uses dates instead, creaming them into the butter in the first step. You can let your kids go nuts decorating the tops with whatever they like (our favorite is blueberries) before sliding them into the oven. The resulting muffins are just sweet enough to qualify as a treat, and they're lovely enough for grown-ups, too. If you don’t have a food processor, finely chop the dates and have your kid smush them with a pestle and mortar before beating them into the butter by hand.

Featured in: How a Top New York Chef Bakes With Her Kids

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Ingredients

Yield:12 muffins

  • 8 tablespoons/113 grams unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the tin

  • 8 large Medjool dates, pitted

  • 3 large eggs

  • ¾ cup whole-milk yogurt (preferably European style)

  • 2 to 4 tablespoons maple syrup (depending on desired sweetness)

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 1¾ cups/225 grams all-purpose flour, or another flour such as spelt or einkorn

  • ½ cup/50 grams almond meal

  • 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (optional)

  • 1 tablespoon baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

Optional toppings

  • Banana slices

  • Fresh or frozen berries

  • Rolled oats

  • Chopped nuts

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

36 grams carbs; 69 milligrams cholesterol; 268 calories; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 12 grams fat; 4 grams fiber; 229 milligrams sodium; 7 grams protein; 20 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.

  2. Step 2

    Place the butter, dates and eggs in the bowl of a food processor. Process until light and fluffy and the dates have nearly disappeared, 3 to 5 minutes. The mixture may look a little split but it will come back together.

  3. Step 3

    Add the yogurt, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and cinnamon; process until smooth.

  4. Step 4

    Add the flour, almond meal, flaxseed (if using), baking powder and baking soda. Pulse briefly, just until no dry flour remains. Do not overmix.

  5. Step 5

    Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups (about ⅓ cup per muffin).

  6. Step 6

    Decorate the muffin tops as you like, pressing the toppings lightly into the batter. Scatter some with berries, others with chopped nuts or rolled oats. Every muffin can be different.

  7. Step 7

    Bake until the muffins are puffed, golden and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Muffins are best eaten the day they are baked, or can be frozen for a month or two.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
16 user ratings
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Comments

Kelly

Contrary to the article of putting cheffyness aside, these are pretty fussy. The reason why muffins are so appealing to make is that they can all be done in one bowl and without a mixer or food processor.

Sadly, I agree

Ugh I totally agree- breaking out the blender I automatically noped- and went back to my quick bread recipe.

Pua

I used 70 G of full fat Greek yogurt and 100 G of whole milk in place of the European style. I use 50 g of maple syrup. Next time I would double that. the food processor bowl and lid need to be wiped down several times during the mixing process . I appreciate recipes that provide grams and millimeters even for liquid measures.

MichaelH

Tasty, but a little dry. I think I'll use a whole cup of yogurt next time.

Ava

These work really well for what they are meant for-a recipe to cook with young kids. Are they the best tasting muffins out there? Probably not but they are still tasty, relatively healthy and not very sweet. I throughly enjoyed making them with my preschooler and he loved making them.

Fil

Very soft and light (with so much raising agent) and not too sweet. Otherwise nothing to write home about. Even with chocolate and ginger added. Date, butter and egg mixture never got “fluffy”!

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